Could your personal brand use a little work? Or, perhaps, a healthy shove into the limelight?
You and everyone else. Fortunately for you and everyone else whose fate rides on your personal brand, you have a great deal of help in this endeavor. If you know where to find it, that is.
Start with five of the best websites and directories for personal branding. Here’s what you should know about them, beginning with one you’ve assuredly heard of before.
Twitter is a social media platform made for bite-sized person-to-person interactions. It surely needs no introduction. And, pound for pound, it could be the most efficient personal branding tool in your toolkit. Use it to follow and interact with influencers in your niche, building rapport and laying the groundwork for mutually beneficial working relationships.
- Wikialpha
Make no mistake: Wikipedia is a great personal branding tool for influencers, minor celebrities, and professionals near the top of their fields. Unfortunately, its restrictive “notability” requirements shut out otherwise deserving professionals.
Lots and lots of them.
What’s a personal branding pro to do? Target one of the legitimate Wikipedia alternatives, that’s what.
Wikialpha is a great example. As this Wikialpha bio for Daniella Rand, a San Francisco-based financial advisor, it’s all but indistinguishable from Wikipedia itself. Find the Wikipedia alternative that’s right for you, whether it’s Wikialpha or another high-potential property, and begin working your branding magic
- Medium
Medium is, at heart, a blog for people without blogs of their own. Why go through the trouble of maintaining a personal blog that, let’s be honest, very few will read — when you can get much more bang for the same buck here? Medium is your long-format ticket to a stronger personal brand and better professional exposure, friend.
You already know that LinkedIn is a great tool for showcasing your professional achievements. What you might not realize is that LinkedIn is also a great place to show off your knowledge and expertise in a way that furthers your brand. Commit at least one hour per week to LinkedIn maintenance: writing updates, connecting with thought leaders, or sharing professional reflections.
- co
Angel.co is a professional database that leaves room for its listees’ softer sides too. It’s also surprisingly visible in search results for terms related to your personal brand (especially your name or business name) — so you don’t have to do much to get real value out of it.
How Strong Is Your Personal Brand Right Now?
If you do not have a profile on each and every one of these websites, the answer — sorry to say — is “not good enough.”
Here’s the thing: Creating a profile on Crunchbase, Angel.co, and the rest of these brand-building sites is not a heavy lift. You can knock out all six of these in an afternoon, with time left to spare. To put it more bluntly: You have no excuse not to use these six websites to build your personal brand.
So, what are you waiting for? It’s past time to get started.
